Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway • Hacker News Board

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#911

Post by wooger » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 9:21 AM UTC

GoatInGrey wrote: post #843

fnordpiglet wrote: post #828

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And when margins compress the first thing that will go is the threshold for cleaning. Cleaning is not just expensive in labor but also taking a car out of circulation. All incentives point towards lowering standards to the absolute minimum people will tolerate.

Margins aren't going to compress for some time considering that Waymo's only competition is human-operated driving services.

Competitors that require a $10k car and minimum wage, not a $500k car. That's a lot of margin to make up.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#912

Post by lokar » Fri, Jun 20, 2025, 4:13 PM UTC

addaon wrote: post #897

lokar wrote: post #852

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on location

> It depends on location Can you clarify? From https://www.uber.com/us/en/ride/uberblack/ , the only obvious location dependency is that drivers must "meet state- or local-level livery regulations" -- I think this just means that for this subset of drivers, Uber chooses to actually verify that they're following the law? Which I know is a deviation from their usual model, but seems like it's very literally the least t…

In some places (like Zurich) it’s always been a typical livery driver.

I guess that’s consistent? Some places have stronger regs for a livery license?

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#913

Post by casey2 » Fri, Jun 20, 2025, 7:23 PM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #154

This makes a lot of sense to me. When you ride in an Uber or a taxi, you're a guest in the driver's space. In a Waymo, it's your own space. You can play music, talk on the phone, etc. without worrying about disturbing the driver. You're not likely to have strong odors, or driver's phone conversations. And the experience will be roughly consistent each time. In an Uber, you have no idea what the car or the driving sta…

And all of it is subsidized by the carless taxpayer.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#914

Post by derwiki » Sat, Jun 21, 2025, 4:03 AM UTC

zx8080 wrote: post #895

derwiki wrote: post #739

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess? The town my parents settled in was doing well when they moved there. 15 years later when I was born, it and all the surrounding towns were clearly in decline. Today, friends that have stuck around say it’s not safe to walk around because of the meth. They also didn’t have jobs for programmers, so I moved to where they did.

> Today, friends that have stuck around say it’s not safe to walk around Which neighbourhood is it?

Small town in the midwest

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#915

Post by ghushn3 » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 3:59 AM UTC

kulahan wrote: post #781

ghushn3 wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Threatening someone for being a complete asshole is always okay, and even cool. "Being an asshole" is in the eye of the beholder. Plenty of people thing CEOs are assholes, you are saying that it is "always ok, and even cool" to threaten them? Some people think that religious folks are assholes. Some people think blue haired lefty folks are assholes. I think you need better criteria for violence than "I think this p…

lol, three innocent people begging to be taken somewhere safe sure are scamming you. Stop pontificating on situations you’ve never experienced anything within a thousand miles of.

I've been homeless in a big US city. People are running all sorts of scams out there.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#916

Post by sagarm » Sun, Jun 22, 2025, 5:23 PM UTC

harmmonica wrote: post #903

sagarm wrote: post #887

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you might enjoy a recumbent bicycle. For a "bike" to balance you need a certain level of physical/mental engagement. How much value are you really getting from the self driving aspect, even if it were feasible, at that point? At some point smart-car esque self driving vehicles will likely be possible, but self-driving unenclosed two wheelers? Pointless IMO.

Yeah, you're right, uncle. How about some kind of conveyance that just costs a lot less than a conventional US car? Rhetorical. Not expecting a reply to that.

I don't understand the hostility.

A bike already fits your requirements, self driving would just make it more expensive.

If you want something enclosed, NYC has self-driving (from your perspective) trains and busses.

If you want enclosed and not-shared, I guess you just want a smaller car? Losing wheels wouldn't make it cheaper, IMO, because that makes a bunch of stuff more complicated.